Ninja Rooftops

Ninja Rooftops is a precision platformer about one rooftop route and the clock. Thirty short courses run across three districts — the low tiled roofs of Lantern Street, the shutters and sign wires of Neon Market, and the wind-blown Sky Towers — and every one of them is a line you learn: where to jump, where to kick off a wall, where to spend the one air dash you get. A run lasts under a minute. Getting the gold time takes rather more than one.

The movement is the whole game. Jumps are as tall as you hold them, you keep a few frames of grace after running off an eave, and a jump pressed early still fires the moment you land. Slide a wall and kick off it, cling for half a second while you line up the next kick, catch a ledge on the way down and pull yourself over it, or hold down at speed for a crouch-slide under a low shop sign. The air dash refreshes when you land or touch a wall, punches through hanging rain blinds, and is the only thing that crosses the widest gaps. Three shuriken per course knock out a watchman's lantern or hit a far switch to roll a shutter up.

The city is trying to stop you: spinning roof fans, sign wires that pulse live on a timer, tiles that crumble a beat after you stand on them, updraughts and crosswinds between the towers, and lantern-carrying guards whose pool of light sends you back to the last stone lantern you lit. Every course keeps a best time, a gold, silver or bronze medal, a ghost of your best run to race, and one coin hidden off the obvious line. Keyboard or touch, and everything is kept in your browser.